Friday, August 16, 2002

Apollo 13 is one of my top ten favorite films of all time. As is the case with many of the movies on that list, I didn't see it during its initial theatrical release. Most of these masterpieces came out before I was born or old enough to venture out of the house alone. A couple are special gems I never would have known about had I not caught them through lucky happenstance on cable. My reason for missing Apollo 13 is unique. It debuted in June of '95, which was one of the craziest, busiest, most stressful times of my life. I didn't see a movie in the theater that whole summer.

When I rented it on video a few months later, it astounded me. I was married at the time, and my wife and I watched it together on our ancient, hand-me-down 25" TV. As the end credits began to roll, a most amazing thing happened. We looked at each other, and without a word I knew we were in complete agreement. I rewound the tape and we immediately watched the whole thing again. We loved it that much.

More than any other film, I've always regretted the fact that I didn't get to see Apollo 13 on the big screen. Now it looks like I'm going to get my chance, in spades. On September 20th, Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience premieres.

Up until now, IMAX films have been almost exclusively documentaries. While I've loved the visual grandeur of such movies as The Dream Is Alive, To Fly! and Everest, I've longed to see a full-length feature film on that gigantic cinematic canvas. Thanks to a new conversion process that reformats conventional 35mm films, Apollo 13 will fulfill that longing better than I ever could have dreamed possible.

At this point, I can't tell if it will be showing at the nearby Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater at the National Air & Space Museum. If it does come there, I'll probably see it multiple times. If it doesn't, I'll be making a special weekend trip down to my old stomping grounds around Williamsburg, where it'll be screened at the Virginia Air & Space Museum's IMAX Theater. Either way, I'll be chomping at the bit for the next month or so.

Posted @ 2:18 PM

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